"Brody dump it..."

This is one of my new favorite sayings..."Brody dump it..." because inevitably every time I hear this phrase it means that Brody went to the bathroom in his little toilet and is dumping it into the big toilet!  I don't know where this newfound desire to potty train came from with him, BUT I WILL TAKE IT ANY TIME!!  Brody received big boys for his birthday and was excited about them for maybe 2 days when he got them... and then he forgot all about them.  Well, he was going through his drawer and he came running into our room holding one a week ago, and that is where it all kicked off.  Brody has been diaper free during the day for a week!  We had a few accidents in the beginning, but the last 4 or 5 days have been accident free!  The last two nights he has just been obsessed with sitting in on his toilet, pushing just a teeny tiny bit out, dumping it... and then completing the cycle over and over again.  He will even sit up on the big toilet now too, but I think he prefers his toilet.  One of the big, exciting things is that he even recognizes when he needs to go while he is in the bathtub, and he asks to get out to go pee and then he'll get back in!  The next step for us is to start taking him out on our errands so that he knows he has to hold it while in the car, etc... but I am a little scared of pee all over his carseat and down onto our car seat, but it must be done sooner or later. :)  Our little boy is growing up so fast!!

Here are some of the pictures we have gotten of this process... don't worry, they are all clean!


We also had a picture of Brody in these big boys... but he was kind of spread eagle, so I decided not to post it.

Brody decided he was big enough to get on the toilet by himself... and he did great getting on and going when his little seat was pulled out.  Then one time, he got on after I had closed the lid, and he forgot to pull his little seat out to sit on and this is what happened...

I thought for sure he would be scared of the big toilet again, but once I explained that his little seat has to be down because he has a little bum and mommy doesn't need it because she has a big bum, he wasn't so scared.  Now he goes around saying, "Mommy have big bum."  Oh well...

Personal Progress...

Have I mentioned that I LOVE my new calling?!?  I have always loved Young Women's and getting to be a part of it as a leader is just as much fun!  It is pretty time consuming, but worth the time and effort we get to put into it. 
Since I am a leader, I have the opportunity to do my Personal Progress program again.  And since the church has set up the personal progress program online, it just makes it THAT much more convenient!  The last couple of days I haven't been able to stop!  I am just relishing in the spirit that is always present as I focus on making myself a better person.

Now, I know that I haven't been completely neglecting commandments, and actually felt that I was doing okay... but I have started reading the scriptures both in English and Italian again, studying with Adam again, saying MORNING and evening prayers and for meals, reading the Ensign, New Era, and The Friend... and I have to say... I was missing out!  This burst of spiritual insight has been WONDERFUL.  It makes me wonder why I was so lazy, because it just makes my day better.  And the best thing of all is that I seem to have more patience with Brody, and that is HUGE for me.  I, by nature, have never been a very patient person... and it reflects with the way that I discipline Brody.  This spirit has helped me to TEACH him what he's not doing right (aka hitting Mason, pushing hard on Mason, pooping in big boys, etc) rather than just getting frustrated and making him feel worse without getting an explanation of why mommy is upset with him. 

That is my personal SPIRITUAL progress... and that is not the only progress that I have made.  Yesterday after working out, I weighed in and I have officially hit a 40 pound loss!!!  I am ecstatic.  I only have 9 more pounds until I reach my next weight loss goal!!  And that goal is a HUGE goal.  When I started this loss, I really didn't see myself reaching this goal so quickly, so I am really grateful that my body is allowing me to work it so hard to get this excess weight off.  I FEEL great!  Here's to continuing with this process and staying motivated!!!

New Family Adventures!!

So, as of a couple of weeks ago, I have decided to do something that I have NEVER done. I am going to enter into and compete in a Triathlon Sprint in Riverton! It is on June 18, so I have 3 months from today to get into decent shape, so I don't embarrass myself. This is a really good goal for me, because it is giving me something to look forward to... and by doing so it is helping me stay motivated in getting into better shape (ideally back to pre-BRODY pregnancy).

Adam and I started working out 5 weeks ago, after watching The Biggest Loser and I have lost 15 pounds since. My short term goal now is just a mere 3 more pounds, then 10 more... and the goal to get to pre-pregnancy weight is 22 pounds after that... so 35 more pounds.

Well, because I am getting ready for a triathlon, I am doing exercises that I haven't really ever done as "exercise"... and that is biking and swimming. We have gone to the pool a few times and I have been able to do my workout. The last time we went, I swam 300 yards in 8 1/2 minutes. Now I have NO clue how fast that really is, but I was pretty proud of myself for finishing and not feel too winded. I guess that means I need to try to go a little faster. The boys have a blast at the pool too, so it just makes it so easy to get motivated to go and practice my swim portion.

On top of that... I knew I needed to start biking again. Adam has a really nice bike from his mission, that I don't think he even used (except when they were close on miles in their car and had to cut back). So, I planned on just using his bike for my stuff. I also knew that I wanted a bike trailer to pull the boys behind me, so that I didn't HAVE to wait for Adam to be home to go... so we invested in that (it turns into a double jogger stroller too... double whammy). So, when I told Adam my plans, he was ademant that we just get me a bike so that we could ALL go together. I LOVED that idea!! So, in the end we bought me a new bike too... from Wally world. :) Thank goodness for tax returns!!

Last Friday, we got the trailer/jogger in the mail, and my new bike from the store. Saturday, we went out on our first family bike ride. It started out very pleasant, and then we got to the hill between City Center and Ranches... and it kicked my butt!! I had the trailer on the back of my bike because Adam's bike has a quick release tire on back and the trailer attachment doesn't work with quick release tires. FINALLY we got to the pass, and then it was downhill from there all the way to my brother's house. All in all we biked 5.8 miles to his house. We were planning on making the trip back but my little bruiser fell out of the back of a parked truck and knocked his noggin on the cement. It was pretty traumatic. Brody seemed completely dilirious for awhile, so Josh and Kami gave us a ride home with all of our equipment, so that Brody couldn't fall asleep in the trailer (in case of a concussion). He ended up being fine, with just a good bruise... so no worries there.

Every day Adam comes home wanting to go biking, but the weather has been pretty icky this week, so we haven't gone as a family again. I did go on Tuesday for a 6.2 mile bike ride all the way around City Center... and that wasn't as hard because it was all flat. The fun thing is that in the Triathlon, the entire first half of the bike ride is uphill and the entire second half is downhill... so workout at the beginning and then coast!

Here are some pics and videos from our little family adventure.

Photo shoot from last month...

We had a rough time with this photo shoot.  Brody wouldn't cooperate when Mason was happy... and Mason wouldn't fall asleep when we wanted some good sleepy pictures.  It was not very fun, but we got some REALLY fun pictures from it!

Making Changes!!

Well, I know that I have already done this ONCE, but this time is for sure... I am switching over to Blogger for good.  I have had some issues with my Xanga account over the past few months with it limiting my photo uploads and now, for some reason it won't let me change the background, so it will eternally be stuck on "Happy Valentine's Day".  I was just done dealing with it.  So, if you are reading this, save it to your favorites right now so that you can follow my blog still. :)  Updates to come!